Even though RSS feeds are around for a long time, many are still unaware of its presence and its benefits. So let us spend some time in understanding what is this RSS feed all about.
Simply put, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used for publishing frequently updated content over the internet such as blog posts, news headlines etc. in a standardized format. RSS feed contains a summary of the content or the full text. Along with that RSS feeds can contain media files such as images, video and even ad banners embedded in them.
The main benefit of RSS is aggregation of content form many different sources in one place. RSS feeds can be read using RSS Readers. RSS readers can be web based or desktop based. A good example of web based RSS reader is Google Reader. Even though there are many web based ones, I liked Google Reader. You can try Snarfer (395.81K to Download) if you want a desktop based RSS reader.
So how do we put it to use? Say you came across an interesting website or a blog and you want to see all the new updates regularly. Earlier the only option was to check the website regularly for updates. Now you can conveniently subscribe to the RSS feeds of that website and the RSS reader takes care of informing you about the new updates. The reader regularly checks for the feeds and synchronizes with the content already present in it. Just search for the RSS icon 
and click on it. Your browser opens a new page; just copy the web address (URL) and add it in your RSS reader. In Snarfer you can add a new feed form the File menu. In google Reader you can add a new feed by clicking ‘Add subscription’ on the left side pan.
Once you have successfully added the feed, you start receiving all the updates directly to your RSS reader. Don’t you think it’s far easier than keep checking different web sites….? So what’s stopping you….? Go harness the benefits of RSS feeds…
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